Nearly eight in 10 adults in China now have a bank account, according to the 2014 Global Findex. This represents a 15 percentage point increase since 2011. According to the survey, the number of global unbanked has decreased from 2.5 billion to 2 billion in the past three years, and China’s progress has been a major driver of this change. In fact, the 2014 Findex found that of the world’s 500 million newly banked adults, more than one third (180 million) live in China.

Three positive trends emerge from this data.

1. Rural and poor people constitute many of the “newly banked” adults.
Sixty-six percent of the poorest quintile in China now have a formal account which represents an increase of 28 percentage points over the past three years. The rural population – which includes most of the poor in China - also saw a major increase of 20 percentage points with 74 percent of rural adults formally banked in 2014. Women have significantly benefitted from this growth and are now almost as financially included as men.

Nanguang Railway is one of six rail lines currently supported by the World Bank in China and one of three that recently became operational. With a route length of 576 kilometers (358 miles), it connects the capital cities of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong Province of China.

Guangxi is rich in natural resources and home to dozens of ethnic minorities. But economic development has been relatively slow there compared with coastal regions in China. The high-speed railway system will help monetize Guangxi’s natural resources by bringing in more business opportunities and tourists. In this sense, the line will not only benefit local people in terms of transportation but also help boost the local economy.

Each time I go to Manila, I can’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the city. It seems that with each visit I make, a newer, taller building is being built, a road is being paved and, from time to time, a new shopping mall is waiting to be opened.

These are all signs of a rising middle class reaping the benefits of the country’s impressive economic performance.

The island nation, where people’s sunny disposition matches its warm climate, has also emerged as the newest darling destination for over four million tourists last year. In 2014, Palawan was voted the most exotic island in the world in its annual Condé Nast’s Reader’s Choice Awards.

Vietnam is likely to be among the countries hardest hit by climate change. How has its government invested to respond to this issue? View the full infographic.

Y Cham, whom I met during a mission to plan for our support for the coffee rejuvenation project, comes from the Ede ethnic minority in Dak Lak, the major robusta coffee-producing province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

The long-time farmer shared with me his worries about his four hectares of coffee garden which had not been watered enough due to the prolonged drought.

“If I cannot harvest as much coffee as last year, I cannot sustain the studies of my daughter who is a student at medical college in Hanoi”.
The Central Highland, home of 500,000 hectares of coffee, has recently been affected by severe drought. The drought this year is considered most the most serious in the last 10 years. Over-irrigation and inefficient water use, compounded by increasing periods of drought, makes coffee farmers highly vulnerable, unless they are prepared to better adapt to the changing weather patterns.

Among the crucial factors for coffee yield, water, according to Y Cham, has become the biggest challenge in the priority order of “water, variety, funding, and science.” Water availability and advanced varieties resistant to the conditions of climate change are considered the most important factors.

This year, Indonesia celebrates the first decade of its school grant scheme BOS (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah). The program aims to ensure that schools have sufficient funds to operate, reduce the education costs faced by households and improve school based management. The program is huge and covers approximately 43 million primary and secondary school students across Indonesia. Every year, schools receive $50 for each primary and $60 for each junior secondary school student[1]. This translates into an annual grant of about $20,000 for the average junior secondary school.

Since I arrived in Indonesia we have visited schools regularly to check on the progress of BOS. I have talked with poor parents about how the program has helped to lower the education costs they face. School Principals have shared with me the many ways BOS has enabled them to provide the training opportunities their teachers need to improve classroom practice. School visits have also highlighted some of the challenges the program has faced in ensuring funds are used transparently. In one school, the necessary public noticeboard displaying information on the use of BOS funds was pulled out from behind a cupboard and contained information that was a year out of date.